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M8 does basketball (at iso 2500)


rwchisholm

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Well, the title says it all, I guess. I just wanted to move away from the upgrade posts. Come on, the M8 is a great camera. I can afford any 35mm-digital I want, from the flagship Canon to the fancy new D3. But I dig the M8. And I'm not going to upgrade and I'm not going to complain. Hey, I can even shoot some pretty cool sports shots with it! -Rob

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Guest Bernd Banken

Sorry Rob,

 

but there is some lack of the famous Leica-sharpness of your lens.....;)

Please use pre-focus method or improve your skills in fast focussing or take the AF-route:D

 

Greez

Bernd

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Guest Bernd Banken

Rob,

 

the boy is your son, right? Nothing wrong to be proud of the boy and the shot, but you start with the most difficult field of photography - rangefinder and sport in halls with difficult light.

Keep on!:)

 

Bernd

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Nasty patterning on the wall, where were you focussing, actually? Sorry, but this is not M8 territory, a Nikon D3 running at ISO 3200 or 6400 with the 70-200 VR would eat this for breakfast.

 

Mark has a point. The chroma noise in this image is unacceptable in my opinion, and illustrates the limitations of the M8 rather too plainly. Green hair, anyone? Which is one of the reasons why I never use ISO 2500. To my mind it's unfit for purpose unless used for b+w only.

 

I'm a big fan of the M8, and use mine for a fair bit of wedding work in less than ideal lighting. But for commercial work I wouldn't want to go any higher than ISO 640.

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Nasty patterning on the wall, where were you focussing, actually? Sorry, but this is not M8 territory, a Nikon D3 running at ISO 3200 or 6400 with the 70-200 VR would eat this for breakfast.

 

Just out of curiosity, where can we find examples made under kind of the same circumstances by kind of the same photographers (no offence) of this Nikon D3's breakfast?

 

Thanks,

 

Peter

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Hey, give him a break. I shoot my kid's basketball games, too. And shooting sports is hard work, especially at the school level, where the action is pretty confused and uncertain.

 

I'm mostly using an E-3 and 50/2, which produces an effective 100mm FOV. I've found that the available zooms that give me autofocus at shorter focal lengths force me to work at f/2.8 to 3.5 at best, and a high school basketball court is a tight, dark space. So here's how it works with the M8 and a 35/2.0. I shoot the E-3 at ISO 1600, but keep the M8 to 640, since there are always solid color backgrounds in the picture. Zone focussed, shutter speed 1/125 if I am lucky.

 

scott

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You might "be able to afford any 35mm digital flagship"- but this shot - Please!!! Out of focus, boring, thoughtless, the list goes on and on - I'll sum it up for you - A Steaming Pile of _ _ _ _ ! Bragging about what you can "afford" tells me a lot - mostly that I don't want to know, hear or see anymore at all - from Mr "Afford".

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You might "be able to afford any 35mm digital flagship"- but this shot - Please!!! Out of focus, boring, thoughtless, the list goes on and on - I'll sum it up for you - A Steaming Pile of _ _ _ _ ! Bragging about what you can "afford" tells me a lot - mostly that I don't want to know, hear or see anymore at all - from Mr "Afford".

 

I can't tell what you are talking about. Please go back to your camera club. Where everything is sharp.

 

scott

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Have to say this sort of image is difficult to take in the UK these days. Such is the level of paranoia that you are immediately branded as a child molesting pervert if you take pictures at an event like this.

 

It helps that I come to every game, and am the unofficial team photographer, but I recognize that exactly what you say would apply to photographing in parks. The far east seems to be more relaxed, and an open attitude helps a lot. I do snap shots of people that I find attractive or interesting, and I tend to leave the homeless alone. Haven't had any trouble. It's not a new problem. Robert Frank, when shooting what became "The Americans," spent several days in a southern jail locked up as a suspicious New York Commie, with a funny (Swiss) accent.

 

scott

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You might "be able to afford any 35mm digital flagship"- but this shot - Please!!! Out of focus, boring, thoughtless, the list goes on and on - I'll sum it up for you - A Steaming Pile of _ _ _ _ ! Bragging about what you can "afford" tells me a lot - mostly that I don't want to know, hear or see anymore at all - from Mr "Afford".

 

Ouch, that must hurt, bit OTT and personal don't you think.Imants got it right, this is one for the family album. FWIW the basketball room is much too small and badly lit, the background is light and horrible, I can't imagine how you could get a decent shot there and most wouldn't bother.

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I'll defend the OP. Having spent some time trying to shoot under these conditions, I was impressed that he got the faces and hands crisply defined around the shooter, using manual focus and a 75mm. The short throw on the new lenses might help, but zone focusing a 75 is a waste of time. I treat the shot as an example of the tradeoffs that you get pushing the ISO up that high. If you have the luxury of a D-3 and college gym lighting, it's easier to look sharp. Here, the players' hands usually look like blurred birds' wings flapping.

 

You shoot this kind of stuff for yourself, for the coach, for the other parents. They are not likely to care about mottled radiators in the background if you can show them a player's concentration, effort, or balance.

 

scott

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I'll defend the OP. Having spent some time trying to shoot under these conditions, I was impressed that he got the faces and hands crisply defined around the shooter, using manual focus and a 75mm. The short throw on the new lenses might help, but zone focusing a 75 is a waste of time. I treat the shot as an example of the tradeoffs that you get pushing the ISO up that high. If you have the luxury of a D-3 and college gym lighting, it's easier to look sharp. Here, the players' hands usually look like blurred birds' wings flapping.

 

You shoot this kind of stuff for yourself, for the coach, for the other parents. They are not likely to care about mottled radiators in the background if you can show them a player's concentration, effort, or balance.

 

scott

 

I fully agree with Scott here. Not every photo needs to be a work of art, and this picture has value in its own right to the OP. No need to critize photographic work like this.

 

I'm just interested in Mark's statement that a D3 would do better under these circumstances, and I ask D3 owners to show this.

 

Thanks,

 

Peter

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